i can ride!

thanks to ken's help, i now can ride my new bike. i enjoy it. now, if only i could figure out the speeds...
i guess if i get used to changing gears on a bicycle, learning to drive a standard transmission car would be no problem. 8^)

mom's overjoyed that i finally learned. she thinks that if i learn how to swim, too, that i'll be all set.

bicycle! bicycle!

i was talking with dad and carter yesterday after the father's day dinner about how i would like to learn to ride a bike. i was never really interested in it as a kid. i never got past training wheels when my bike vanished (whether it was stolen or i gave it away, i can't remember.) then i got a pair of roller skates. i loved those skates. *sigh*

later, as i was visiting ken, i get a call from carter. he and dad had just bought a bicycle for me, a light blue mountain bike. the following photo is courtesy of carter. isn't it pretty?!


it's got 15 speeds. oy. 0_o
and i haven't even mastered the lowest speed, much less keeping my balance and pedalling at the same time! dad and carter showed me some pointers. i nearly crashed into a tree after dad thought it'd be a good idea if i went down the side of the storm cellar to gain momentum. mind you, it was a sapling, but even if i didn't miss it, it shouldn't have caused too much damage. after that, i packed up the bike and took to ken and so he could give me bike riding lessons. i nearly fell a few times! i think the bike seat left some bruises on my butt!

i'm learning. when i fall or mess up, i get back on. i'll get outside with it today after work and try to keep my balance on it with keeping my feet off the ground as much as possible. ken thinks that if i master that, i'll be more than ready to add the pedals in. pedaling is easy but keeping you balance at the same time is the tricky part.
i'll have to get elbow and knee pads soon, not to mention a helmet. wish me luck!

happy b-day to me!

i'm offically 27 today.

dad and carter took me out for dinner for my birthday last night and mom's taking me out tonight. 8^)

it's still early yet, but things are shaping up to be a great birthday. no party, no cake, just food, my parents and brother. if ken didn't have to drive so far, he'd be here, too, but i'll get the see him tomorrow anyway. 8^)

lazy weekend

it turned out to be a pretty uneventful weekend. thank you, God!
they didn't need me on saturday to work, but i carried my cell phone with me the entire weekend. they never called on sunday either. *shrugs*
i still had to come in early today. no holiday for the kit.

i mostly spent the extra time with ken. 8^)

we saw "Troy" on friday evening and just hung out in general.

ken and i were searching through flea markets in paragould on saturday, just to kill time. that's when i found my birthday present:
one 2-drawer lateral file cabinet in great shape and the price was a steal! normally those things are so expensive...
and 2 old boardgames i had never heard of, The Inventors and Shogun. They even had all their pieces!
i've gone game crazy. i went to ebay and placed a couple of bids for some old games that looked like fun. one is Whatzit? which we played in my creativity class in college. i loved that game... 8^)
i'll have to be careful that i don't blow all my money on books and games.

we got caught in a storm on sunday. we were just sitting in wastings, reading books, when the power went out. they let us out of the store eventually.

after work on monday, i went to visit ken and his folks. ken was grilling some pork ribs, wet and dry. i prefered the dry myself. they were some of the best i've had yet.

ken and i have fun but we're not what you'd call party people. lol! 6^) and that's fine by me.